Thank God it's Friday
by HoneyBear1874
Summary: It really shouldn't have taken this long, but Tadashi wasn't one to give up. Tadashi/OC. Based on the Honeyworks song "Friday's Goodmorning".


_"Maybe I shouldn't wear the cap today?_ " Tadashi wondered for the tenth time that morning.

Hiro banged on the bathroom door. "Bro, your hair looks fine, I need to brush my teeth!" he called on the other side of the door in exasperation.

Tadashi frowned at his reflection before nodding resolutely. He opened the door and Hiro rolled his eyes.

"Sorry Hiro; and I wasn't fixing my hair." he added lightly.

"Yeah, yeah. Good luck!" he said before disappearing into the bathroom with a teasing smirk.

Tadashi smiled back wryly; he made his way downstairs and felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

He pulled it out and saw he had a new text message from Honey Lemon:

 **Good luck! :D**

Attached was a picture of her, Gogo, Wasabi and Fred all giving him a thumbs up.

 _"Geez, them too?_ " he chuckled and texted back a quick thank you. _"Hiro probably told them everything."_ he thought shaking his head amused, but smiling at their encouragement.

Tadashi checked to make sure Aunt Cass wasn't working yet; last Friday she had given him the usual pep talk and bear crushing hug with the assurance that he didn't need to worry about a thing. As much as he appreciated her, today he wanted to just go without much of a fuss; he was already so nervous and he wanted to avoid talking too much about it. He had to calm down and get himself together if he was going to do this.

 _"I can do this._ " he thought firmly as he boarded his bus; four months ago his bike needed repairs and to get to the university, he had to take the bus. Every Friday he sat in the same seat next to the second bus door on the left side. He'd usually read a book or a newspaper or something while he waited for his stop.

Every Friday a girl had taken the seat directly across from him; she would pop in her headphones and sometimes absently hum or mouth the words to whatever song she was listening to. She always carried a messenger bag that seemed to be empty. After 20 minutes or so, she would pull the cord to signal for the bus driver to stop and she'd leave.

Every Friday Tadashi would work up the nerve to say good morning to her, but the words never came out; he would spend the rest of the trip pretending to be busy reading when he was really giving her discreet glances. Tadashi had gotten his bike fixed the same week it had been taken in for repairs, but that didn't disrupt his Friday morning routine.

 _"This is it; I can feel it._ " Tadashi knew this would be the day; he would greet her and smile and begin a light conversation. Maybe he'd even make a funny joke and she would laugh and he was sure it would be the best sound he'd ever hear because a girl that cute must have the sweetest voice and the sweetest laugh-

 _"Ok, maybe I shouldn't get ahead of myself._ " he thought self-deprecatingly. _"But it would be nice if I could at least know her name."_

There always seemed to be a reason not to greet her; either she looked too tired, or distracted, or busy, or hungry to be bothered. Tadashi had once looked up at her for longer than he meant to and she had noticed and given him a polite smile to which he responded by burying his face into his book without a word. Later that day he was so busy replaying the embarrassing scene in his head, that he had knocked into a appalled Wasabi's tool cart and had almost gotten his head sliced off from Gogo throwing away one of the wheels on her electromagnetic suspension project.

Tadashi shivered at the memory of the scolding he received for not being more careful. " _Well, today's going to be different."_ Today he'd really say it and nothing was going to stop him; he wouldn't go another week without talking to her.

Before he knew it the bus had come to another stop; the doors opened and she walked in.

 _"Ok, now!"_ Tadashi gulped and opened his mouth.

Nothing.

Nothing came out; he felt like a lump had gotten stuck in his throat. She sat down without noticing his mouth hanging open slightly and she popped in her earbuds. Tadashi looked back at his book pretending to read and trying not to look crestfallen; he was disappointed that once again he wouldn't hear her voice and disappointed in himself.

 _"Why can't I just say it?_ " he thought; he had never had this problem before. He found it relatively easy to be friendly to even strangers. He liked to think he was a friendly guy, and he enjoyed being around others. Why was this so hard?

She sat in her seat blissfully unaware of his disappointment; sure enough after 20 minutes she pulled the stop cord and left the bus. Tadashi struggled not to stare after her as she walked off the bus to who knows where.

In another few minutes the bus stopped right in front of the stop across from the Institute of Technology; Tadashi walked inside and made his way to the lab. His friends all stopped what they were doing and went over to him; he couldn't help feeling better seeing their concerned faces.

"So?" Honey Lemon asked timidly; Tadashi guessed she saw the disappointment on his face and already knew the answer.

"I couldn't say anything; it's no big deal, there's always next Friday right?" he asked trying to sound cheerful.

Gogo frowned. "Tadashi." she said seriously with a hint of worry. "We're not dumb; we know when you're upset." Tadashi feigned surprise.

"What? I'm not upset, why would I be upset?" he chuckled unconvincingly.

"Well, seeing as how you've been trying to talk to the same girl for four months, I'm sure anyone would be down." Fred said lazily chewing his chips. Wasabi nudged him hard in the side with a reproving glance before smiling at Tadashi.

"Hey man, it'll be okay. Just take your time, there's no rush. You're our best friend, we're here for you." The others nodded in agreement.

Fred slapped Tadashi on the back. "Yeah, dude, you're just like Superman!"

Everyone looked at him with varying degrees of confusion and exasperation.

"Superman?" Tadashi asked laughing incredulously.

Fred nodded vigorously. "Totally! By day a mild mannered everyday guy who's in love with Lois Lane but can't get her to give him the time of day; (Tadashi frowned a bit at this) by night, you're Superman, crime fighting superhero who sweeps her off her feet!"

"I don't fight crime by night." Tadashi reminded him.

"No, but you've got to bring out your inner Superman to sweep your Lois Lane off her feet! No wait, be Batman instead; you can make me a cool utility belt!" Fred was off in his own little world for the moment.

"He does have a point in a way." Honey Lemon said kindly. "Tadashi you're a great guy, you just need to have more confidence and show her that."

"Thanks you guys." Tadashi smiled feeling much better. "I'm going to go work now, see you at lunch!" They went off to their own experiments and Tadashi had renewed resolve.

"If I can build an advanced nurse robot, I can say good morning to her."

 **Next Friday:**

Tadashi boarded the bus with confidence until he saw his regular seat was taken.

He stood by the door next to his occupied seat and took a hold of the strap hanging from the roof; he knew it wasn't a big deal, but he felt like the change in routine was a bad omen. It was beginning to rain outside and in his haste he forgot his umbrella, another little mishap that gave him a feeling of foreboding.

He scolded himself. _"Come on, a little rain and a new seat isn't the end of the world. I can't hold myself back."_ Suddenly, a disheartening thought came to mind:

What if she didn't want to talk to him? All this time she hadn't made a move to speak to him and maybe that was because she didn't want to and she doesn't want some strange boy bugging her on the bus.

When she boarded the bus and sat in her seat, Tadashi's voice failed him once more; all he could do was stand there and look out the window.

He sighed quietly. _"I can't say it."_ He should just start riding his motorbike to school from now on; it was a waste of money to keep taking the bus and he would get there sooner and be able to finish his robot. He wouldn't have to deal with how scared he felt at the prospect of talking to her.

 _"I guess I'll never know her name."_ Tadashi knew her stop was coming up; the rain was pouring down harder. " _Of course I'd forget my umbrella on top of it."_ he sighed heavily not daring to look over at her as she walked up to him.

 _"Huh?._ " Tadashi froze; she was right in front of him and was looking down shyly.

"Um, hello." she began avoiding his eyes; he looked right at her with wide eyes as she fidgeted and pulled out something from her bag.

"I noticed you didn't have an umbrella; would you like to borrow this one? You can return it next Friday." she looked up at him smiling awkwardly. "I mean, I see you here every Friday, so…" she trailed off and presented a pink umbrella to him; the handle had a picture of a panda.

He took it carefully. "Uh, thank you." he smiled back; he felt himself blushing and hoped she hadn't noticed.

She smiled less nervously. "I have to get off here, but see you next Friday. Have a good weekend!' she called walking out the doors and straight into a grocery store.

 _"So, she shops for groceries."_ Tadashi thought in a daze. _"That explains the empty bag."_ It dawned on him that she didn't have an umbrella and might get soaked herself, but before he could take action the bus had already driven off. He sat down in her previously occupied seat and stared at the umbrella.

 _"She didn't want me to get wet."_ he felt like shouting in victory. " _She noticed me too!"_

Tadashi happily ignored the odd looks he got for carrying the girly umbrella with him the rest of the day.

 **Next Friday:**

"Good morning!" Tadashi greeted the girl with a warm smile; she blushed but smiled back shyly.

"Good morning; was the umbrella okay? I was thinking maybe it was embarrassing to use, since it's so cutesy…" she said sheepishly.

Tadashi shook his head. "No way; it was really sweet of you to let me borrow this. Here." he pulled out the umbrella and handed it back to her.

"Thanks." she stowed it away in her bag and sat down in her seat across from him.

"I'm Tadashi. What's your name?" he asked more hesitantly.

"My name's Penelope." she grimaced. "But most people just call me Penny. It's nice to meet you, though I guess we've technically already met." she shook his hand firmly with an embarrassed giggle.

"Either one sounds really cute." Tadashi wanted to grimace himself, but it seemed to be the right thing to say; she blushed and smiled even more sweetly.

"So, you take the bus to go to the store." he asked curious.

Penny nodded. "I like to go grocery shopping early in the mornings; they always have great deals then, especially on meat."

"Do you enjoy cooking?"

"Oh yeah, I'm not a chef, but I can make most things well enough." she fidgeted with her bag. "What about you? Where do you go to?"

"I go to school at the Institute of Tech. I like to get there early to work on projects before class."

"You're a student there? Oh, I guess I should've guessed by the cap." she said a bit embarrassed. "But that's so cool! You must be really smart; I don't know a thing about robots or science other than what I've seen in sci-fi movies." she giggled.

Tadashi grinned at the compliment. "You like science fiction movies? What's your favorites?" There was so much he wanted to know about her.

"I love alien invasion ones and the ones where robots go haywire; I really love superhero movies, like the X-Men series!" Penny gushed enthusiastically.

"You should meet one of my friends at school; he loves that kind of stuff. We're all science nerds, so we all like to watch those movies and compare them to what we know." he chuckled.

Penny smiled. "That sounds nice."

Tadashi cleared his throat. "So, I was wondering…you seem really nice and maybe we can hang out sometime. The two of us, I mean." he tried to explain. "It's just, I think I really like you and I've wanted to ask you if you wanted to…."

"Go out with you?" she suggested uncertainly.

"Yeah." Tadashi finished lamely feeling apprehensive. "I mean, if you don't want to-"

"No, I do!" Penny replied a bit loudly. She coughed nervously. "Um, I would really like that." she finished looking down.

Tadashi stared at her with a growing grin. "That's great, um, let me give you my number-"he pulled out his phone and Penny pulled out hers; they typed in each other's numbers just before her stop came.

"Maybe we can meet up tomorrow? I have Saturday off." she mentioned shyly.

"Sure! I'll text you in a bit so we can make plans." he said grinning as Penny waved goodbye. She smiled over her shoulder at him and stepped off the bus.

Tadashi reread her contact information on his phone; he still felt a bit dazed, like it hadn't really happened. but it did and it was easy and she was as sweet as he imagined and he couldn't wait to get to know her.

Fridays was definitely his favorite day of the week.


End file.
